The Twelve Days of Moving: Day Three

Monday, 17 August

We started off by sending a list of villa repairs (complete with pictures) to our real estate agent and the property manager, then yours truly headed across town to check out Tahboub Bros.kitchen shop as it appeared to be the only place in Abu Dhabi where one could purchase a Sub-Zero refrigerator and Wolf cooker.  Fantastic place, with fantastic prices to match:  the Sub-Zero price (before discount, naturally) was 49,000 Dhs and the Wolf range was a mere 39,000 Dhs.  I thought it best to return to Carrefour.  But they did have some lovely things, including Franke sinks, Asko dishwashers, and Grohe taps.  Sigh.

Next stop Jumbo Electronics on Hamdan Street to find out whether ANY televisions for sale in the UAE were wired for SCART cables.  The answer was something along the lines of a blank stare, eventually followed by a "No, Madame."  Ok.

Nearby, just next to the Sinbad Automatic Laundry and underneath the Extreme Team Law Offices (yes, really), was Shadows Decor, one of the highly-recommended places for custom curtains.  I did, in fact, just say "curtains."  That's because villas in Abu Dhabi come pretty bare -- no appliances, no curtains, sometimes not even any lightbulbs (we were more fortunate in this last matter).  I spent over an hour with a lovely Indian lady who hefted about a million fabric books from what appeared to be complete disorganisation (is there a Dewey Decimal System for fabrics?).  I couldn't actually pick out anything specific, mostly because I have the design sense of a gnat, but before I left I was told that I could probably outfit my entire villalavishly for about 10,000 Dhs.  That's $2,722 US.  Just in case you missed it, I said:

I could probably outfit my entire villa lavishly for about $2,722 US.

And my villa happens to be about 4,200 sq. ft.  I just don't know what else to say here.

Exhausted from my fabric-pawing, I found a taxi and made my way to Al Wahda Mall to suss out the appliance situation at Betterlife before meeting up with my husband and some colleagues at The Noodle House for lunch.  This was fantastic, even though I stayed somewhat conservative and ordered the Paad Thai.  I suppose the only negative experience was that ONE of the colleagues decided that he would shorten my name to what he thought was a reasonable familiar form.  I corrected him.

After lunch my appliance researcher and I headed up to Betterlife to pick out the kitchen appliances.  It took a bit of time, but wasn't too taxing.  About ninety minutes later, we had purchased a 90 cm-wide Electrolux dual-fuel range; a Siemens side-by-side refrigerator with ice maker, water dispenser, and one of those little pullie-outie doors on the 'frig side for getting things that one uses regularly; a wine fridge; a Siemens dishwasher that holds 14 place settings and runs at less than 40 dB (that's deciBels, and 40 might as well be complete silence); and a Siemens washing machine and dryer.  They were scheduled for delivery and installation on Wednesday -- two days later.

Now it was time to dash over to the villa and meet up with our fantastic real estate agent, who agreed with us that there was still a substantial amount of work to be done.  Within minutes, the maintenance manager appeared and the agent went to work.

Dinner was delicious take-away from Caravan Restaurant and dessert consisted of another midnight planning session on the roof terrace.

The Twelve Days of Moving: Day Two

Sunday, 16 August

You would be completely reasonable to think something along the lines of "Naturally, you slept late and spent a leisurely Sunday recovering from jetlag."  And you'd be right.

If it weren't me you were referring to.

No, THIS gal had to go to work on Sunday at EIGHT O'CLOCK BLOODY AY-EM.

Yes, you read that right, although it was mostly administrative stuff (contract signing, meeting the Powers That Are, and being processed for my residence visa).  The latter was the best part of all:  the PRO took half-a-dozen of us to get our medical check-ups and had us in and out of the Disease Prevention and Screening Centre, located at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, in thirty minutes flat.  This is truly evidence of modern-day miracles, as pretty much everyone else I've spoken with in Abu Dhabi has spent at least a half-day at the zoo establishment.

That done, my work day was over and it was time to inspect our new home.  This seems so long ago now, that I don't remember my exact response, but I believe it included repetition of the phrase "Oh.  My.  God." over and over again.  It was nothing like the wreck I had seen in those pictures from way back in June.  And it is immense.  Think Anna and the King waltzing proportions (ok, ok, maybe not -- Deborah Kerr's skirt needed a LOT more space).

Next stop was Marina Mall to check out appliances at Carrefour and cheap furniture at Ikea. I decided that latter was a bit too cheap, so was determined to scour the streets of Abu Dhabi looking for something better.

In the evening we made a trip to our friends at The Living Room Furnishing store to pick out a mattress.  We chose the queen-size (a mere 150 x 200 cm) tempurpedic/hard foam hybrid. Delivery was scheduled for Tuesday evening.

Again, a good day, and at the end of it we planned our to-do list for the next one.  At one-o'clock in the morning.

The Twelve Days of Moving: Day One

As you've probably guessed from my conspicuous absence from the ether, this has been one hell of a first two weeks.

Here's a short recap of the events of the past twelve days.  Hang in there, it's gonna be a long one:

Saturday, 15 August

We leave our lovely home (and neighbours) in the UK with two suitcases and one carry-on each. Picked up by Etihad Airlines chauffeur service, Heathrow was a madhouse (August, you know).  Even the flight was packed, so my world-traveller husband didn't get his usual upgrade to first class.  Which means we had seats that looked like this:

Instead of this:

Right, so business class is blue and first class is gold.  Other than that, not much difference. And in the end it really didn't matter because the stewardess (yes, I still use that word) spilled champagne on me before the flight even took off, so I got my very own size small sleeping costume, complete with storage bag.

Arrival in the UAE, some seven hours later was pretty uneventful.  The only difference was that THIS time I had an employment visa waiting for me at the Visa Delivery Desk and had to go in for an eye scan.  Then on to one of the largest villas I've ever seen to spend the first of what we assumed would be several nights while our Apocalypse-Now-Wreck-of-a-Villa was getting made ready.

I don't remember anything else.

Don't shit where you eat

So it wasn't exactly in a restaurant, but last week as we were leaving Al Khalidiya Mall after a rather mediocre meal at Cantina Laredo ("Hi, my name is José and I'll be your server this evening") which we probably won't be visiting again anytime soon (for pete's sake -- they don't even serve margaritas!), we were waiting in the taxi queue and the following happened:

A woman and two of her friends emerged from a taxi.  She was carrying a plastic bag, the kind you get at the grocery store.  It had things in it, presumably not of any (further) value to her.  Some combination of tract variables led to her grip on the bag becoming progressively looser, until the limit of grip was reached.

And the bag fell.

Pretty uninteresting, eh?  Of course you're thinking "big deal -- a woman dropped her bag, had to bend down and pick it up, and went on her merry way."

And you'd be right, of course.  Except for the fact that she didn't pick it up.

As she was walking away with her friends, I stood there alternating my stare between the dropped bag of rubbish and the young woman.  She noticed and started speaking rather nervously to her pals.  But she didn't come back to pick up her garbage.

To protect the innocent (me) I won't say what nationality this litterer was.

But it rhymes with "Maserati."

Ten things I love about Abu Dhabi

After ten days here, I am finally finding the time to write a new post.  Rather than a "how-to" manual, I'll just jot down a few of the things that have made the past week and a half one of the most interesting, suprising, entertaining, and, well, FUN ten days I've ever experienced.

Here we go:

1.  People call me "Mem".  Yes, as in "Memsahib".

2.  I can get my hands henna-painted for $15 US by someone who might as well be called Picasso.

3.  Our villa has seven bathrooms.  Ok, maybe that's not such a good thing...

4.  I'm able to wear my 24-karat gold jewellery and people don't think it's costume.

5.  98% of the people I meet are gracious and kind.

6.  Saying "Ramadan Kareem" elicits some of the widest smiles I've ever seen.

7.  My husband has started uttering sentences like "Very very rain" when describing the monsoon season in India.

8.  We were able to decorate our entire villa with gorgeous draperies for less than $3,000 US.

9.  The food is outstanding -- everywhere (ok, ok, maybe with the exception of Cantina Laredo).  From the ready-made treats at the Lulu Hypermarket to the lamb shishlik at Hatam Al Taei.

10.  The sun shines.  EVERY SINGLE DAY.

The funny thing is, although there have been a couple of annoyances here and there, I can't come up with a list of ten things I hate about Abu Dhabi.  Maybe in time.

Then again, maybe not.

Last day

Here I am, having my usual morning coffee and doing my usual morning things -- reading the news, writing my blog, laundering clothes, making the bed, going to the Friday morning market. And a few unusual morning things, like emptying out the refrigerator, pulling the last few bits of clothing out of the wardrobe, tucking the barbeque away in the shed.

Because it's our last day here in the UK.

In less than twenty-four hours, we'll be on a plane (business class, thank you very much).  In less than forty-eight hours, I'll be finished with my medical check-up and my residency visa will be in the process of getting done.  A day and a half after that, we'll probably be at the British Club answering trivia questions at quiz night.  The spare time in between work and play will be filled with shopping for a mattress, investigating the villa, buying furniture, and planning the garden.  Our work week will change from Monday-Friday to Sunday-Thursday.

This is, without a doubt, the strangest experience of my lifetime.

All dressed up and nowhere to go

Now that the air and sea cargo has been packed up and is on its way, I find I have almost nothing to do.  My clothes are all folded and ready to go into suitcases.  Friends are arriving this evening for a quick farewell drinkie (or two).  I need to make a few phone calls to family and friends.  But that's pretty much it.  I liken my present state of mind/activity to being all decked out for a party and finding out that I'm an hour early.

So what exactly am I filling my time with in these last few days before we head over to our new home?  Well, here's a short list to keep you entertained:

1.  I finally finished sewing the sleeve seam for a baby jacket and can now send it off in the mail.

2.  I had my hair cut.

3.  I'm reading Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle.  Again.

4.  I've done up my syllabus for the coming semester.

5.  I just read a couple of pieces (Asimov and Sagan) from Great Essays in Science.

6.  I'm about to head over to the Waitrose to pick up snacks for tonight's drinks party.

7.  I made a really yummy potato salad for dinner.

8.  I turned myself from a blonde to a brunette.

I hope you're now as bored as I am.

Getting (E)mail in the desert

I don't really care much about snail mail capabilities.  No one ever sends me mail anyway, except for my grandparents, and we'll work something out just for them.

But take away my email for a day and the pit bull will emerge.

See, I, probably more than most people, have a very close relationship with my computer.  I use it for everything:  reading the news, checking the time, converting currency, researching whatever, running stats, shopping, sending cards, keeping my diary, looking up recipes (particularly handy when your cookbooks are in the middle of the ocean), and of course, email.  I need my computer, and it needs me.

It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that high up on the list of priorities is establishing an internet connection at our new villa (note I did not say "wreck" because, as of this past weekend, the villa is ready).

There are a few choices of ISPs in Abu Dhabi, and they all rhyme with "Etisalat."  Hurrah for state monopolies.  So off I go to dig around the Etisalat site.

Like most commercial sites, and certainly like most commercial sites in the UAE, the Etisalat webpage is about as navigable as the Bermuda Triangle (no doubt my clever master mariner friend will point out to me that the Bermuda Triangle is super-navigable, but it sounded good anyway).  So I'm going to point to a few key pages for the benefit of those who have even less patience than I.

All-in-One 3-pack:  Landline, TV, and Internet

Dhs 422 for the Gold package (download speed of 2 Mbps -- that's b for bits, not B for Bytes)

Dhs 522 for the Platinum package (download speed of 4 Mbps)

Dhs 280 for installation of either

All-in-One 2-pack:  Landline and Internet

Dhs 363 for the Gold package

Dhs 464 for the Platinum package

Dhs 180 for installation of either

Al Shamil:  Broadband Internet only

Dhs 449 (4 Mbps)

Dhs 349 (2 Mbps)

Dhs 249 (1 Mbps)

Dhs 200 for installation of any

Dhs 180 for wired modem

Holy expensive Internet, Batman!

That's USD 122.00 or GBP 74.00 per month for a lousy 4 Megabits per second connection speed.  Stateside a few years ago, we were paying about $30 a month for DSL and here in the UK we've got a brilliant international phone plan/broadband (8 Mbps, thank you very much) package for 30 quid.  I guess Etisalat is making up for the fact that all those Skype users are still getting away with making free VoIP calls to their friends and loved ones back home.

As of now, I don't know which we'll be using.  One of us hasn't watched telly since Seinfeld was still running, the other probably goes back even farther.  We've got mobile phones (I hate the things, but my husband makes me carry one around for emergencies).  So we don't really need the bundled package, but since the 2 Mbps All-in-One 3-pack costs less than the 4 Mbps Internet-only option, maybe I'll just start watching Turner Classic Movies on a regular basis.

Getting mail in the desert

I recently sent out an email broadcast to friends and family informing them of our upcoming move and providing change of address details.  Well, sort of.  That change of address part was rather difficult, as although we have a current address, we're not going to have anything to change it to.  This bit of information has been plaguing my mum (consider what an effective plague this would have been on top of gnats, incurable boils, and locusts) so I think it's high time I let her know that I am, in fact, thinking about how to get mail over in Abu Dhabi.  Maybe it will help out a few other people as well.

The truth is, there are no street addresses in Abu Dhabi.  There is mail, however -- it's just delivered to post office boxes.   Well, maybe it's delivered to post office boxes eventually.  But we now know that the word "eventually" has its roots in the Arabic word for "youmightgetitonedayoryoumightnot."  And to be perfectly honest, after spending my entire life in places that have little men coming to my door daily, I'm too spoiled to be enthusiastic about having to drive somewhere on a regular basis to pick up my mail.  So what to do?

There are a number of solutions, most of which come at a cost.  I'll outline a few of them here:

1.  Snail mail to your post office box in Abu Dhabi.

I don't really like this idea, but I suppose it works.  And the Emirates Post website has detailed information on renting a private p.o. box.  In fact, it appears one can even do this online (although since Emirates Post fails to provide a map of post office locations, perhaps that's not such a great plan).

The other problem with sending stuff through the regular mail is that it will likely be opened. This practice was undoubtedly initiated in order to prevent my parents from sending me the usual Chippendale's calendar for Christmas, but unfortunately will affect the rest of the population.  Bottom line:  We may rent a post office box in Abu Dhabi, but we might not.

What it costs

1 lb. package via USPS First-class mail:  USD 10.31 -- well, that and the 530 Dhs (USD 144.00) that you'll have to fork over to rent the post office box

2.  Federal Express

FedEx, to me, is the gold standard of postal services.  Why?  Well, mostly because it's a private firm (that means not run by a government).  And the beauty of FedEx-ing things to Abu Dhabi is that the parcels are less likely to be opened, or so I've heard.  The downside with this method is that it doesn't really fit in well with the Shylockian Money Saving Scheme that I adopted long ago, but it might be necessary in a pinch.

What it costs

1 lb. FedEx package from East Coast U.S. to Abu Dhabi:  USD 75.35

3.  Aramex Shop&Ship

Sometimes the good old USPS just won't do.  Like, for instance, when you want to buy something from Amazon.com.  This is when Aramex's Shop&Ship service comes in handy.  For a one time set-up fee of USD 35.00, you can have an Aramex box with a US or UK address that can be used for online shopping, bills, correspondence and so forth.  Of course, then you actually have to pay for the goods to be forwarded to you in Abu Dhabi.  It's still not a bad deal, with the primary downside (in my opinion) being that you can't choose what Aramex forwards to you once it arrives in their hands -- so you might end up paying for junk mail.

What it costs

1 lb. Aramex forwarded package to Abu Dhabi:  Dhs 39, or USD 10.62

4.  Online postal box services

This is a pretty fascinating idea in the mail forwarding realm, and Earth Class Mail seems to be the winning candidate.  The way it works is:  you get an address with Earth Class Mail and they scan the envelope of whatever comes their way.  Then you log on to your account and, after viewing the envelope scans, decide what to have opened and scanned, shredded, recycled, or forwarded to you unopened via snail mail.  ECM seems best designed for small pieces like bills, not parcels.  And of course not everyone would be comfortable having his mail opened, no matter how much the company touts its security measures.  I don't think we'll be using it, but it's worth mentioning here.

What it costs:

ECM operates on a subscription basis.  The basic package of USD 19.95 a month gets you up to 50 pieces of mail receieved, unlimited recycling, shredding, and storage.  But those scans are going to cost you:  each one over the limit (which is zero on the basic package) is another USD 1.50.  And there's a one-time setup fee of USD 25.00.

After writing this and looking at ECM's "professional" package, it seems to me that it would be a fantastic benefit for a company with overseas employees to offer.  For USD 60.00 per month, up to 200 pieces of mail are processed, 45 scans are included (same overcharge of USD 1.50 applies to the extra scans), and there are unlimited numbers of named recipients.  Someone (other than yours truly, because I give out more than enough free advice) would have to look into exactly how to deal with the fact that some folks would go over their allotted amounts while some would only be receiving a few items per month.  But you know what?  That's what Microsoft Excel was created for.

Hope you found this helpful.  Unless you're my mum, in which case I hope this puts your mind at rest.  We're working on it.

T minus four days

I know you're all waiting with baited breath to hear my latest rant over whatever news piece has been published today, or perhaps where to find a nice set of Henckels knives over in the Land o' Lawrence.

Well, you're just going to have to wait another day.  I'm knackered.

The air freight crew (all one of them) spent 7 hours here yesterday packing up our 1,001.2 lbs. of stuff.  After a delicious meal of ready-made whatever from the Waitrose, we rearranged a few more things and closed up a few more boxes.  The container arrived today promptly at 0900 and it took three stout lads from the local removals firm just over an hour to load it. Barring any antics by somali pirates (I'm not even going to dignify them by capitalising the "s" in "somali"), we'll see that again sometime in the last week of September.  The house has been hoovered and dusted, and I'm actually cooking dinner for the first time in several days.

So I hope you'll all pardon me if I don't write a juicy little tidbit about that expat couple who got arrested the other day for kissing each other hello.

Because right now, I just don't care.

Getting a liquor license

It is amazing to me how under-utilised Google is, particularly by those people who seem to need it most.

Have a look around the expat forums and you'll find countless threads starting with something like:    "How do I get a liquor license in Abu Dhabi?"  Do any of these folks realise that they could type that very sentence into a Google search box and the top hit will be this:

http://www.admmi.com/Beverages/get_license.aspx

??

In fact, it actually takes less time to run a Google search than it does to log in to Forum X, start a new thread, and write up a question (well, sometimes these forum posts are in the form of a question, sometimes they seem to be written by people who were absent on the day the concept of a complete sentence was discussed in grammar school).  Not to mention the time cost of inserting all those annoying little emoticons.

Ceteris paribus with respect to time, however, the real problem with going to a forum to ask advice on practical matters is that you get exactly what you pay for:  responses like "I think maybe the license fee is X."

Why would anyone value this over the straight-from-the-horse's-mouth information they can get from the site above?

I confess I don't know the answer to this question, except for my stock response of "half of the population is below average."  But I'm on a campaign to make the process of getting good information even easier than it is now (I expect in a day or so this blog post will be high up on the Google results).

Here's what to do:

Requirement to obtain a liquor license as applies to normal non-Muslim residents in employment within Abu Dhabi:

Fill in Liquor License application form (to be typed) in Arabic.

Provide original passport plus a copy. Also present residential papers. 

Present Labour contract copy with the original.

Attach 2 recent passport sized photos with application form.

If there is doubt of religion (possible due to nationality or name), present religion certificate from either the appropriate embassy or other authority.

Minimum salary requirement must be above 3000-4000 DHS monthly depending on circumstance. Salary Certificate from the applicant’s company must be presented, in Arabic.

Salary Certificate from the company, in Arabic, addressed to the Directorate Gen. Of Police Abu Dhabi - Criminal Investigation Department.

Those who fall into the Drivers category of employment are not allowed to obtain a liquor license.

For renewals old liquor license must be presented.

Also please note that the value of the permit is based on the holder’s salary; up to 20% of the holders salary may be used for alcohol. 

Payment: the charge will be 20% of the license value (for example, should a license value be DHS400, then the charge would be DHS 80.

The completed documents should be taken by the applicant to the Police Directorate (click here to see map).

The Licensing Department is open from 8am-11am on Sundays and Mondays ONLY.

PROs applying on behalf of the employee can go to the Licensing Department on Wednesdays from 8am-11am.

Licences issued will be delivered to you by Empost within a week after submission. DHS 10 will be charged by Empost for delivery.

Now for those of you below the mean (and you know who you are), here's a special gift from me to you, just in case you didn't manage to notice the link to the liquor license application at the bottom of the linked page:

Liquor License Application Form

Ok, that's done.  Of course it's still going to be necessary to actually do a search for this information in order to end up here.  So I offer the following useful link:

www.google.com

Use it.

Cheap eats galore (if you can find them)

It's funny how many people I talk to about Abu Dhabi are surprised to hear how hopping the culinary scene is.  (If you one of those surprised people, check out the Gourmet Abu Dhabi 2009 festival site.)  Yes, it's a city in the middle of a desert, but so is Las Vegas, and I'm sure the latter has many decent eateries (I can't confirm this empirically, as I've never been to Las Vegas and am highly unlikely to set foot there).

Let's take just ONE of the umpteen posh hotels in the city, Le Royal Meridien (remember, this is not the same place as Le Meridien).  A quick look at their website reveals that this hotel alone has nine dining options:

1.  The Shuja Yacht dinner cruise (dinner on a boat)

2.  The Piano Lounge (rather what it sounds like)

3.  Al Fanar (the spaceship restaurant)

4.  Amalfi (de rigueur Italian place)

5.  Soba (Japanese)

6.  L'Opera Brasserie (I still haven't figured out what or where this is)

7.  PJ O'Reilly's (also rather what it sounds like)

8.  Oceans (overpriced, er, delicious seafood)

9.  Zari Zardozi (Indian)

You could stay there for a week and never eat at the same place twice, but you'll pay through the nose for the privilege.

So where to go for a good dinner that won't kill the budget?  Fortunately there are scads of little places - some dirt cheap, some just a hell of a lot more reasonable than what you'll find in a four-star hotel.  TimeOut Abu Dhabi recently published a list of 31 cheap eats, and if you add in the remaining 35 or so from the average-priced list, there's a wealth of places to choose from (I don't recommend 49ers The Gold Rush unless you happen to be a single male looking for, um, company).

There's just one tiny little wrinkle.

Most of the restaurant and café reviews don't actually provide essential information on location.  And even those that do include this minor detail do it in a pretty vague way.  Take, for example, the write up on my favourite Persian restaurant, Hatam al Tae, which offers this handy map:

Great!  Super!  Whoohoo!  A map showing where this restaurant is!  Except that Hatam al Tae is actually located on the other side of Hamdan Street, more like here:

I know what you're thinking:  "Big deal, so it's across the street.  Not a problem."  But Hamdan Street is fairly wide, noisy, and chock-a-block full of cars.  And Hatam al Tae is a wee place, tucked in a corner off the main road.  So you might miss it.

Note to TimeOut editorial staff:  A map that provides flawed information as to the location of a business is about as useful as a clock that's run down.  Except that a broken clock is right twice a day, whereas a bad map is never right.

Being the Pollyanna that I am, however, I see a bright side to all of this:

When you go looking for that elusive cheap eat in Abu Dhabi, I guarantee you'll burn more calories looking for the place than you'll consume once you're there.

Newsflash: "High-speed ferry service for Abu Dhabi" from The National

As much as I love to poke a bit of fun at The National, it really is a pretty good newspaper.

For starters, it's in English.  It's also much more Abu Dhabi-centric than the Gulf News.  And it has a great cryptic crossword (although the Khaleej Times puzzle section beats everyone hands-down).  So I wake up each morning and I read The National online.

I should amend that:  I don't actually read the whole newspaper.  I read the headlines.  When I see a headline that sounds interesting or particularly relevant I read the story.  So I'm probably going to skip things like "Footballer finds career as trick expert despite disability," "The orange blanket sapping the life out of Baghdad," and "Dubai refuses Sex and the City filming."  (Okay, okay, I actually did read that last one as it's going to be my next topic.)

What captured my interest in today's paper was the announcement of a high-speed ferry service to Qatar and Bahrain.  This is great news, because it means if we ever want to go to either place, we don't have to drive through Saudi Arabia:

Not only does that cut the travelling time down, but it means we don't have to EVER have to go through Saudi.  Now that's some pretty good news.

T minus eight days

And at this point I just want to go.

I'm ready.  I've got my employment visa and plane ticket.  An attested marriage certificate and diploma, international driving license, and 18 million passport photos are waiting patiently in my moving folder.  Bank accounts in yet another foreign land are set up.  My wardrobe has been trimmed down to what will fit in two suitcases (the rest will go by air or sea).  The medical exam for my residence visa (basically, a blood test and a chest x-ray to prove I don't have consumption -- does anyone actually have consumption these days?) is scheduled for the day after I arrive.  One team of movers is coming on Monday; the other crew on Tuesday.  Farewell get-togethers with the neighbours are set.  Our villa looks (we've heard) as if it's actually going to be ready by the time we land in Abu Dhabi.  I'm still cooking, but that's about to stop once Monday morning arrives. Anxiety, excitement, impatience, and a general feeling of queasiness are the ruling emotions of the day.  And why wouldn't they be?  We look at one another at least once a day and say:

We're moving to Abu Dhabi.

Crikey.

Countdown to the move

You know, each time I move house I say the same thing to myself (and to everyone else who will listen):

Never again.

Then Charles Laughton enters in a barrister's wig and calls me a chronic and habitual liar.  He's right.

The thing is, moving bites.  Not because of the fear of transplanting oneself to a new place (and in our case those places have been and are going to be really new), but because one ends up living in limbo at both ends of the relocation process.  And even though that limbo does have an end, there are couple of months when it seems interminable.

Take my dining room.  Or what used to be my dining room.  It's got forty-some-odd boxes in it and the remainder of its flat surfaces are strewn with all the little items that are destined for air freight.  I've managed to carve out a small wedge for my computer, calendar, and moving notebook, but that's about it.

The kitchen is just as bad.  Most pots, pans, and utensils are either packed away or arranged in a sort of stainless-steel-house-of-cards so that Mr Air Freight Surveyor Man can come in and assess whether they'll fit in to our 1,000-lb. allowance.  Just the other day I had to rifle through box number B-243 and dig out my quiche pan.  (See, there ARE benefits to being anal retentive well-organised.)

All the pictures have been taken down from the walls.  There aren't any fresh flowers anymore because the vases have been boxed up.  Our carpets look as if the Battle of the Bulge had been fought on them (twice), as hoovering is now a practical impossibility.

And it's all going to get worse before it gets better.

From all things Abu Dhabi to none

It's amazing how many non-Abu Dhabi-related posts there are on Abu Dhabi forums (ok, for once I'm including the Dubai forums even though, as we are now aware, it's a different city). I mean things that have NOTHING to do with living in Abu Dhabi, or anywhere in the mideast, for that matter.

I offer a few selections of forum subject lines from the past week for your reading pleasure:

"Am I a good mum?"
"How to shop with a baby"
"Who's your favourite politically correct TEFL-er?"
"Gay penguins split in love triangle shock"
"Travelling to Bangkok this summer?"
"Qatar"
"Wedding anniversary present for my husband"

I'll admit that the initiators of these threads have something in common: they happen to live in the UAE, so naturally they are members of a UAE-related discussion forum. But it seems to me that these questions are just as likely to be answered on, say, the Life in Omaha Forum or the Bahamian Beachcombers Discussion Group.

And I, for one, am getting a little weary of sifting through the myriad postings on which type of baby formula to use or how disgusting weevils are when I'm looking for information on document attestation in the UAE.

Thank you for listening. Rant over.

Shop 'til you drop: Going to the mattresses

Five extra readership points if you know what that means.

Today's post means something different.  We're not bringing our fantastic memory foam hybrid mattress with us (we'll need it to sleep on when we come back home for visits, and besides, I think it's time we graduated to queen size).  So we need to buy a mattress once we arrive in Abu Dhabi.

I know what you're thinking.  Why am I wasting space in the ether (not to mention my morning) writing about something as mundane as a mattress?

Think about it.  Unless you're one of those people who survives on three hours of sleep, you spend one-third of your life on a mattress.  So it's pretty effing important.

As usual, we set out on the mattress hunt in our usual way:  I do the silent research, and Mr. Socially Gracious actually talks to the people.  It works great, and those of you who know us know why.

And we found the place to buy a mattress.

It's not just that we discovered (to our happy surprise) that there are identical sorts of mattresses to what we've spent the past five years on in Abu Dhabi.  It's, to quote Dennis Denudo from The Castle, the VIBE we got from the store manager of (get this) The Living Room Furnishing store.  Here's the story:

Once I located the contact information for this outfit (which, incidentally, sells mattresses, not living room furnishings), Mr. S-G fired off an email asking if they sold the kind of mattress that is not all tempurpedic foam, but some sort of hard latex at the bottom and a few inches of memory foam on the top.  This is what he received in response, just a few hours later:

Thank you for your email.

Yes we do have mattress in our own brand, Europedic Memory Foam, which are most reasonably priced and come in following combinations:

8cm Ultra High Density Foam, topped with 8 cm Europedic Memory Foam

Dressed in Feather Touch Terry Fabric and borderline finish

Perfect Comfort13 cm Ultra High Density Foam, topped with 8 cm Europedic Memory Foam

Dressed in Feather Touch Terry Fabric and borderline finish 

All Materials used are anti-bacterial

Memory Foam is temperature and Pressure sensitive

Absolute Comfort - Twin layered

15 cm Ultra High Density Foam, topped with7 cm Europedic Memory Foam

Topped with 3 cm super soft Europedic Material

Dressed in European Knitted Bertha Fabric 

All Materials used are anti-bacterial

Memory Foam is temperature and Pressure sensitive

Ultimate Comfort  - THE Ultimate Sleep Surface for luxurious rest

15 cm Ultra High Density Foam, topped with 10 cm Europedic Memory Foam; specially contoured Encased in UCHD Foam wall to provide comfort and durability over edges

Dressed in European Knitted Bertha Fabric

All materials used are anti-bacterial

Memory Foam is temperature and Pressure sensitive

All mattresses carry 10 year manufacturer’s Warranty

Please do call if I can be of more assistance. Appreciate if you can call me or send me your number so I can call you to discuss this further. For location maps please see The Living Room Furnishing in wikimapia / google maps in dubai / abu dhabi / al ain

Kheman Ganwani

The Living Room Furnishing LLC

Abu Dhabi 02 621 0322

Dubai 04 422 7466

Al Ain 03 755 0428

Al Ain 03 755 3099

For Locations please search wikimapia.org or maps.google.com for the living room furnishing dubai / abu dhabi / al ain

HOLY RAPID RESPONSE, BATMAN!

Upon thanking the fellow, we received yet another email telling us how much he was looking forward to having us visit his showroom and supplying us with the mobile number of his colleague and the specific location of the store (by Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre, behind DHL/behind the corner of Al Falah Street/Sheikh Rashid Road = Old Airport Road).  Yes, that's the address.

Needless to say, we're pretty confident where we'll be shopping for a mattress in Abu Dhabi.

Avoid the grape

Um, I don't actually follow this advice, as should be clear to anyone within view of our recycling bin.  But there's something we discovered over the course of our dining experience in Abu Dhabi, and it's interesting enough to mention here.

Of the seven emirates in the UAE, some of them are dry, some are not.  Abu Dhabi and Dubai are in that second category, which comes as a huge surprise to people I talk to (hey -- those of you who know us should know that the day we moved to a dry country would be the same day you saw pigs flying around overhead).

So yes, you can drink in Abu Dhabi.

Just not everywhere, and sometimes that's a good thing.

With very few exceptions, the only licensed restaurants and bars are to be found in hotels (although not all hotels are licensed, as my husband discovered when he ended up in one of the dry ones last summer and went looking for the bar).  The hotels that are able to sell liquor, however, are chock-a-block full of dining and drinking choices.  I'll get to that in another post.

It's those other places that I'm interested in just now:  The Persian Hatam al Tae nestled in little corner off Hamdan Street behind what used to be an internet café.  Lebanese Flower, with its conveniently-located branches around the city.  Hanoi, the only Vietnamese eatery (I think) in Abu Dhabi.  Just Falafel, which sells exactly what it says it does.  The international-themed Amassi, over in Khalidiya.  Gad Egyptian cuisine (admittedly not my favourite, but where else can you order a "Viagra Sandwich?").  And the sumptuously-decorated India Palace, whose only misfortune is to be located in the construction nightmare of Al Salaam Street.

There are more, and I'll write about them all in detail rather soon.  For the time being, there are two reasons to venture out of your isolated cocoon five-star hotel and head over to one of these independent places:

1. They're cheap.
   
2. I guarantee you'll drink your daily quota of water.
   

That second reason is a pretty damn good one when you're living in the desert.

Why an anonymous blog?

If you've taken the time to read some of my posts over the past month, the answer should be clear.  If it's still a little muddy, here's a handy list of reasons to keep my identity somewhat veiled here in the ether:

1. I guarantee that some of the things I write will get a few individuals' knickers in a twist. Those people might be newspaper editors, religious extremists, altruistic redistributionists democrats, university presidents, real estate agents, chairmen of corporations, restauranteurs, Starbucks afficionados, anyone with a forum screen name like "Mommy123," or whoever. The list could be infinite.  I don't want any of these people finding out who I am and re-enacting Kristallnacht on the street where I live.
2. I think I'm going to like my new job in the UAE, and if that ends up being the case, I'd like to keep it.  At least for a while.
3. My husband already likes his job, and perhaps more importantly, it's paying (most of) the bills.  We'd like that to continue.
4. While the UAE is pretty darn tolerant a society, it doesn't really rank with the US in terms of freedom of expression, so I'd like to keep below the radar of any cultural policing.
5. Despite the fact that I'm posting to the entire electronic universe, I'm a pretty private person.  Except when it comes to Facebook.

So, dear readers, some of you have come to this forum as a result of a Google search for "salons in Madinat Zayed."  I hope you find the information useful.  Others (and you know who you are) have arrived here because I directed you to the site.  Please do me a tiny favour and assist me in maintaining my ethereal anonymity.